The RCS Hospitality Group Blog for Private Club Consulting

How Much do you REALLY Know About Your Job Candidates?

Recently, Club and Resort Business published an article in which a club in Pennsylvania hired, and then fired a bookkeeper for embezzlement; only to find out that she had six months remaining of a seven-year probation for embezzling from a previous employer. You may be asking “how did the employer not know that their newest employee had a history of felonies?” Short answer: they probably didn’t ask, nor did they conduct a thorough background investigation. When industry unemp

Creating Leaders out of Your Young Managers

We are thrilled to launch a three-part webinar series featuring RCS Intern, Ben Granish discussing the future of leadership in the club industry. For a sneak peek of next week's first topic: "Creating Leaders out of Your Young Managers," read on, and click below to register for the webinar. REGISTER HERE While I am new to RCS and a fresh pair of eyes in the industry; my frame of reference is based on my time observing many fantastic managers in private clubs, conducting inter

Are You Working on Your Brand?

Graduations season brings many speeches. Most will focus on the fact that graduates have their whole life ahead of them and can accomplish whatever they set their minds to, with hard work and dedication. I had the pleasure of attending my nephew’s high school graduation and while many speeches touched on the expected subject matter, the speech that I found most inspiring was the one delivered by my nephew’s school superintendent, who took a slightly different tact in his spe

If The Boss Says 1+1=3, Who's to Argue?

Running a private club in this competitive environment seems to be increasingly difficult. Quality employees are more difficult to locate, hire and retain. Member preferences seem to change at a moment’s notice. Costs are ever-increasing. Surely, we can count on the fundamentals of math to keep us grounded and find solutions to our greatest pain points – something as simple as 1 + 1 = 2. But - what if what separates great clubs involves suspending your belief in math? What if

If You Aren't Innovating, You Are Behind: A Summary of the Golf Inc. Innovation Day

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that we used when we created them.” -Albert Einstein RCS attended the Golf Inc. Innovation Day earlier this week, where the best and brightest attended bringing with them new ideas and predictions for the future of the golf and club industry. Whitney moderated a panel discussion about innovative ideas and strategies for private clubs and had thought leaders Perry Kenney from Sawgrass Country Club; James Hudock from Gibson I

Recruiter Versus Human Resources: Why Your Club Should Use Both

“We don't need a recruiter, we have a Director of Human Resources….” In our travels, we frequently hear that refrain. While the two positions are complementary, they are not the same. Most private clubs have one person who is “responsible” for human resources; meaning that they are the person who handles employee benefits, as well as paperwork for new employees, but they handle other administrative duties as well. Larger clubs may even have the resources to employ one full-ti

Breaking down Departmental Silos within your Club

As the new year is upon us and many look to make resolutions for the coming year, I recommend instituting, or improving a Department Head Retreat. RCS Hospitality Group recently hosted a webinar on the importance and value associated with creating a strong governance culture with the correct use of board and committee orientations. In that webinar, I touched briefly on a similar orientation for senior leaders/department heads--Let's dig a little deeper into this exercise, If

Employee Training & Retention Trend Report: Part 2

Editor's Note: This is part two of a two-part series authored by RCS owner & president Whitney Reid Pennell for 2018, intended to help club managers and hospitality professionals understand the current obstacles in employee retention and training. Part One can be read here. Part One of this series on trends in employee retention and training discussed what obstacles are currently being faced by hospitality professionals and why they have occurred. Let's continue. What is bein

Employee Training & Retention Trend Report: Part 1

3 Tips to Relieve Holiday Stress

For many in hospitality, the holiday season is the most wonderful—and challenging—time of the year. While many of your guests are enjoying time off with friends and family, you and your team are working overtime to make that time off as enjoyable and fulfilling as you can. That’s the heart of great service after all, isn’t it? To help others create wonderful memories. But the holiday season can be stressful for a number of reasons: Increased member and customer expectations,

How Professional Photography Can Serve Your Club

Should You Send Your (Sacred) Cows to Pasture?

An earlier version of this article was originally published in BoardRoom Magazine in 2014. Author Marc Goben, in his book Brandjam, makes a case for emotional branding suggesting that brands today must shift from communications and commodities to emotion and inspiration. If we want to touch people on an emotional level we must find ways to reach people individually to fulfill their emotional needs. Happy club members will continue to patronize where they feel welcome, comfort

A Service “Blueprint” Helps Build a Great Member Experience

Here’s a familiar sight at every golf club: Long-time members arrive, eager for a relaxing day on the course. Their tee time comes up, and after stopping in the golf shop for their cart reservation, they go out to the first tee to begin their round. They’re cheerfully greeted (by name!) by the staff, led to their cart, which is clean and charged and ready to go, and a great day of golfing begins. It’s precisely this seamless scenario that led them to join this club in the fir

Five Steps to Reaping Rewards of a Strong Service Culture

“If you don’t get culture right, nothing else matters.” John Taft, CEO, RBC Wealth Management The word “culture” has many meanings. For most people, it refers to a community’s shared tastes and values, including things like social norms, music choices, food and fashion preferences, sports loyalties, religious beliefs, and many other mores and customs. Sometimes communities with a shared culture are specific to one particular location; sometimes they exist in many places at on

Is the Design of Your Club Costing You?

The past two weeks I have been writing about the need to involve operations in the operational planning stage of a renovation, in Part 1 and Part 2 of the "The Importance of Strategic Architectural Design in Club Operations" series. If you haven't given those a read yet, I encourage you to do so! Today I'd like to take a quick look at what involving operations in the planning stage of a renovation means for your numbers, so you can really understand what poor design could be

Engaging with Adult Learners

As a manager, training is an inescapable part of your responsibilities, and unlike teaching wherein your audience is usually children chances are you will be working with adult learners. Engaging with adult learners has its own unique set of challenges. When you train adults, there is a greater need for mutual respect and for the learners to find the trainer credible with enough character authority to teach them something new. Once the trainer has established their skills an

"If I Knew Then What I Know Now...": Advice from Club Managers to the Next Generation

One of the coolest things we saw at the CMAA World Conference in Orlando this year was the tremendous amount of student groups that were present and engaged on the expo floor and during training sessions. It's always exciting to see the quality and talent of the next generation of club leaders, and this year was no exception. It got me thinking: while I am privileged to learn from RCS president Whitney Reid Pennell's immense knowledge and experience at close hand, I wondered

Why Membership Dues, Initiation Fees, & Capital Fees are KEY to any Long-Term Capital Plan

Editor's Note: Today's blog post is brought to you by RCS Strategic Alliance Partners and founders of Club Board Professionals, David Duval and Joseph Abely. DON'T MISS their free RCSU webinar happening May 17th, "Long Term Capital Planning: The Roadmap to Financial Sustainability". REGISTER HERE. We'll see you there! We are strong proponents that private clubs should have a 5-10 year long-term capital plan. A long-term capital plan should reflect all future anticipated capit

Why Millennials Matter: Golf Trends for the Next Generation

This article originally appeared on Golf Business Monitor in January 2017. A follow-up piece is planned for September to find out how tings are going. Most golf clubs operating in the 21st century know that there are changes afoot in the industry; complex changes that are requiring us to rethink how we attract and retain new members. One of the biggest changes is the tremendous growth of the millennial market, those born between 1983 and 2000 although there are no formal gene

6 Keys to Communicating with a Multi-Generational Membership

Editor's Note: Today's blog post is brought to you by RCS Strategic Alliance Partner and founder of the Howland Marketing Group, Ashley Howland. DON'T MISS her free RCSU webinar happening next week, "Communicating with a Multi-Generational Membership". REGISTER HERE. We'll see you there! “The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love to chatter in place of exercise.” - Socrates, 5th Century BC Yes, you re

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Whitney Reid Pennell

Founder & President

Whitney Reid Pennell is the founder and president of the award-winning RCS Hospitality Group. She is a published author and widely praised seminar leader, with over 20 years of club operations management and consulting experience.

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Leadership Lounge

RCS Hospitality Group : preparing you for the next generation

How Much do you REALLY Know About Your Job Candidates?

Creating Leaders out of Your Young Managers

Are You Working on Your Brand?

If The Boss Says 1+1=3, Who's to Argue?

If You Aren't Innovating, You Are Behind: A Summary of the Golf Inc. Innovation Day

Recruiter Versus Human Resources: Why Your Club Should Use Both

Breaking down Departmental Silos within your Club

Employee Training & Retention Trend Report: Part 2

Employee Training & Retention Trend Report: Part 1

3 Tips to Relieve Holiday Stress

How Professional Photography Can Serve Your Club

Should You Send Your (Sacred) Cows to Pasture?

A Service “Blueprint” Helps Build a Great Member Experience

Five Steps to Reaping Rewards of a Strong Service Culture

Is the Design of Your Club Costing You?

Engaging with Adult Learners

"If I Knew Then What I Know Now...": Advice from Club Managers to the Next Generation

Why Membership Dues, Initiation Fees, & Capital Fees are KEY to any Long-Term Capital Plan

Why Millennials Matter: Golf Trends for the Next Generation

6 Keys to Communicating with a Multi-Generational Membership

Whitney Reid Pennell

Founder & President

Hospitality Training Online

AFFORDABLE.

CONVENIENT.

INTERACTIVE.

CONSISTENT.

"In this age of virtual worlds, RCSU is ahead of the game."

Michael Fay, CCM, CCE

FREE MONTHLY WEBINARS

quick

informative

valuable

no strings attached

no product pushing

“The RCSU webinars are exceptional sources for actionable and helpful information! I refer to them as “power hours” because they are jam-packed with great content and full of energy and passion for the industry."

Jackie Carpenter, CCM

Private Club Advisor

Whitney Reid Pennell

Founder & President

​

​

​

Hospitality Training Online

​

AFFORDABLE.

CONVENIENT.

INTERACTIVE.

CONSISTENT.

​

​

"In this age of virtual worlds, RCSU is ahead of the game."

Michael Fay, CCM, CCE

FREE MONTHLY WEBINARS

​

​

quick

informative

valuable

no strings attached

no product pushing

​

​

“The RCSU webinars are exceptional sources for actionable and helpful information! I refer to them as “power hours” because they are jam-packed with great content and full of energy and passion for the industry."

Jackie Carpenter, CCM

Private Club Advisor